Cape Town - The ANC’s attack on sacked Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter was rather surprising for a party that has defended him so fiercely even when his failures were there for all to see.
It’s perhaps hypocritical that some senior ANC members went after him only after he spoke of alleged interference, suggesting malfeasance on the part of unnamed ANC ministers.
What De Ruyter disclosed in an interview with news channel eNCA is hardly new; he merely confirmed what many knew was the case.
Can the ANC genuinely think that its attacks on De Ruyter are legitimate when it turned a blind eye to his controversial comments that Eskom was “a dead horse”?
The party needs to look no further to direct its anger. It was its current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who labelled the ANC corruption-accused number one.
No one in the current ANC leadership ever spoke out about it.
But when De Ruyter takes from Ramaphosa’s cue, the party unleashes its senior members like Pravin Gordhan and Fikile Mbalula to rubbish De Ruyter’s claims, instead of trying to get to the bottom of who is behind the corruption he speaks about.
Mbalula was the first to reject De Ruyter’s “unfortunate, irresponsible and baseless” claims of alleged political meddling and corruption, and accused him of shifting the blame from his own shortcomings to other people.
“We must ask why he is only raising these ridiculous allegations when he leaves Eskom. We will not be deterred and sidetracked by utterances of naysayers such as the outgoing Eskom CEO.
His opportunistic venture into the political arena has unmasked his regressive political and ideological agenda.
“Mr De Ruyter was appointed strictly to lead the turnaround of Eskom into a functional public enterprise that provides the country with stable, reliable electricity.
He has completely failed to deliver on this contractual obligation.”
Indeed, De Ruyter was a dismal failure as Eskom chief. In fact, he could be the worst the power utility has had.
De Ruyter owes it to the country to disclose the names of the people he claims were behind Eskom corruption, and provide proof.
Failure to do so renders him complicit in a crime. Our country has been in the dark for far too long, with no end in sight.
Cape Times